Peoples of Eastern Europe: composition, culture, history, languages. Non-Slavic peoples of European Russia

Linguists believe that the primitive tribes that settled in Europe 10-12 millennia ago spoke languages ​​descending from a relatively single language family, conditionally called Nostratic. However, as the tribes settled, linguistic alienation began to grow. From the Nostratic family, the Indo-European family of languages ​​emerged, which included the ancestors of most of the peoples of Eastern Europe and the linguistically related peoples of Asia.

The differentiation of the Indo-European community turned out to be closely connected with ethnic processes. Much remains unclear here. The fact is that the problems of the origin of peoples - ethnogenesis - are always among the most complex, rarely amenable to an unambiguous solution. The beginning of the formation of an ethnic community, as a rule, refers to very distant eras of the primitive communal system. The researcher is almost deprived of the opportunity to judge the language spoken by the tribes that left the archaeological sites. Language is one of the most essential signs of an ethnic community. One should also keep in mind the numerous migrations of tribes and peoples, the processes of assimilation. When studying ethnogenetic problems, it is necessary to take into account the data of a number of related scientific disciplines - archeology, historical linguistics, anthropology, etc. There is practically no material that makes it possible to judge the linguistic and ethnic affiliation of the tribes of the Stone Age and partly of the Eneolithic and Bronze Ages. The evidence for the study of ethnogenesis in the Iron Age is somewhat wider, however, even here there are more questions than evidence-based answers. Therefore, researchers prefer to talk about the existence of certain ethnic groups. It is also clear that the peoples inhabiting Russia do not have a single ancestor - so complex and diverse were the ethno-cultural processes that took place on the territory of Eastern Europe.

What tribes and peoples lived on the territory of Russia in the 1st millennium BC?

In Eastern Europe, tribes were formed that spoke the Finno-Ugric languages ​​​​(ancestors of modern Sami, Estonians, Komi, Udmurts, Mari and Mordovians). It is believed that these tribes settled in the Eastern Baltic already in the Neolithic, and in the middle of the III millennium BC. spread throughout the forest belt of the Volga region and the Volga-Oka interfluve (the Dyakovo, Gorodets, Ananev cultures of the early Iron Age are associated with the Finno-Ugric tribes). Later, in the areas of settlement of the Finno-Ugric tribes began to appear, speaking Slavic and Baltic languages.

To the north of the territory occupied by the Utro-Finns and Baltoslavs, as well as in Western Siberia and in the Yenisei basin, the ancestors of the Nenets, Enets, Nganasans, Selkups, Khanty and Mansi settled. The ancestors of the Evenks, Lamuts, Udeges, Nanais, as well as Chukchis, Eskimos, Koryaks, Itelmens, Aleuts and Nivkhs settled in Eastern Siberia and the Far East.

The forest-steppe and southern taiga regions of Eastern Europe and the Trans-Urals were inhabited by tribes belonging to the Iranian language group of the Indo-Europeans (tribes of the Srubna culture). Ethnologists speak of a genetic connection between the tribes of the Srubnaya culture and the ancient Pit Neolithic culture. Numerous tribes of Southern Siberia spoke Iranian languages. To the south of Lake Baikal lived the ancestors of the current Turkic-speaking and Mongol-speaking peoples, who later played a large role in the ethnic history of Siberia and Eastern Europe.

Let us dwell in more detail on the ethnic history of the Slavic peoples. In the middle of the II millennium BC. the European territory of the future Russia from Asia Minor was penetrated by peoples who spoke ancient European languages, dating back to the Indo-European group. As they settled, large groups of tribes separated from them and settled on new lands. So, a vast territory - the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, a significant part of Central and Eastern Europe - was inhabited by tribes who spoke the Balto-Slavic languages. The lands on which the ancestors of the modern Slavs and Balts settled were limited in the west by the Dniester and Vistula rivers, in the east by the upper reaches of the Western Dvina and Oka.

Since these tribes constantly communicated with each other, their languages ​​were very close. Dwellings, clothes, household utensils, and other objects of material culture were similar. Therefore, it has not yet been possible to establish exactly which archaeological sites of the II - I millennium BC. the ancestors of the Slavs left, and which ones - the ancestors of the Balts. In addition to hunting and fishing, they were engaged in forest cattle breeding and slash-and-burn agriculture.

Approximately in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. The Baltoslavs broke up into Baltic and Slavic tribes. An extremely important process for ethnogenesis was completed: the Slavs realized their ethnic independence, differentiated themselves culturally and linguistically from other, non-Slavic tribes. From now on, both the Slavic and the Baltic tribes will have different historical destinies.

However, the Slavic community did not remain united. Soon it was divided into three large groups: southern, western and eastern. Southern Slavs settled in the Balkans. They became the ancestors of modern Bulgarians, Slovenes, Macedonians, Serbs and Croats. The Western Slavs, following the Germanic tribes, reached the banks of the Elbe, Main and Danube rivers; the history of Czechs, Slovaks and Poles is connected with them. And only the eastern group remained in the territories occupied by the Slavs at the initial stage of the development of European lands. Eastern Slavs became the ancestors of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.

Further folding of the ethnic map of our country turned out to be associated with the resettlement of peoples, primarily the Eastern Slavs, who more intensively than other tribes mastered the expanses of Eastern Europe. In addition, the ethnic picture in the 1st millennium AD. will be affected by the Great Migration of Nations.

One of the most important limitrophic zones on the planet - Eastern Europe, stretching a wide strip from the Baltic to the Aegean Sea - is a single whole in geographical, historical, geopolitical terms, with all the relative diversity of ethnic groups, languages ​​and religions in this space. This means that it is unthinkable and wrong to consider the Slavic and non-Slavic countries and peoples of Eastern Europe in isolation from each other. At the same time, for more than half a century in all universities of our Motherland Slavic studies have been studied and taught in separate departments and within separate courses, while the history of Greece, Albania, Romania, Hungary modestly huddles in the general courses of foreign (European) history. As a result, students who have passed through such a system of education do not develop a complete picture of Eastern Europe.

A different approach was in pre-revolutionary Russia. Although both early and late Slavophiles did pay the main attention to foreign Slavs, they never forgot about their foreign-speaking neighbors either. We will not now dwell on the attention that in Russia in the 19th - early 20th centuries was paid to the Christians of the East (Georgians, Armenians, Arabs, Assyrians, Copts, Ethiopians), but we will touch only on the peoples of Eastern Europe. Russian Slavophiles of various trends, as a rule, distinguished three categories among the Slavic peoples: Orthodox Slavs, Catholic Slavs (except Poles) and Poles. Their attitude towards non-Slavic peoples differed in a similar way.

Speaking of the Greeks, one should bear in mind, first of all, the chance missed by Russia in the first third of the 19th century. When the prominent Russian diplomat and patriot Ioannis Kapodistrias became the first president of independent Greece, Petersburg not only did not take care of the stability of his power, but imposed on Greece, instead of organic Orthodox laws, a parliamentary constitution in a Western way. Kapodistrias was soon killed, and Greece came under the influence of the Western powers. The Russian emperors did not abandon attempts to return her to the orbit of their influence, but even when Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna, a Russian patriot and pupil of the Slavophil General Kireev, became the Queen of the Hellenes, she found herself isolated in the political arena of Greece and could not seriously influence even her husband George I Glucksburg. By the end of the 19th century, against the backdrop of Greek distrust of Russia, anti-Greek sentiments grew among Russian thinkers and publicists. Only Konstantin Leontiev and Tertiy Filippov clearly gave preference to the Greeks over the Bulgarians and Serbs, but in general, Russian pan-Slavism acquired an increasingly pronounced anti-Greek orientation. It was more feared to give Constantinople to the Greeks than to leave it in the hands of the Turks. But even at that time, the voice of the largest Russian Slavic scholar Vladimir Lamansky, who created the doctrine of the unity of the Greek-Slavic "middle world" and the need for the closest cultural interaction between Russia and Greece, did not stop.

Hungary after 1848 and especially after 1867 had a well-deserved reputation as a cruel persecutor and oppressor of the Slavs and Romanians (in fairness, we note that after the defeat in the First World War, the position of the Hungarians themselves in Czechoslovakia and Romania will become incomparably worse - they will turn out to be the same powerless lower caste , deprived of elementary human rights, which are now Russians in Latvia and Estonia). The quite sensible position of Nikolai Danilevsky, according to which the Hungarians, along with the Romanians and Greeks, should “willingly or unwillingly” enter the Slavic federation, contributed to the fact that certain episodes of negotiations between Russian public figures and Hungarian politicians took place. Magyar stubbornness made itself felt, and yet certain shifts towards the recognition of national rights for the Slavs and Romanians of Transleitania took place. With the Hungarians, the Russians did not experience such problems as with the Austrian Poles.

Romania during the 19th century always remained in the field of view of the best Russian thinkers and statesmen, although now this has been thoroughly forgotten. Alexander I abandoned Moldavia and Wallachia just as recklessly as he abandoned Galicia and Bukovina, Serbia and Greece, but under Nicholas I the Danube principalities were under the control of Count Kiselev. True, the Crimean War turned Romania into the camp of principal enemies of Russia and the Greek-Slavic culture, and only Bessarabia (present-day Moldova) saved by Russia in 1812 retained its former identity and did not succumb to Romanization even in the terrible years from 1918 to 1940. th.

The 20th century changed a lot in the destinies and self-consciousness of the peoples of Eastern Europe. First of all, let's note the unique role of Romania - the only one of the two dozen Eastern European countries that in the past century gave birth to a large galaxy of scientists, intellectuals, and world-class writers. The legacy of Codreanu and Eliade entered the golden fund of all mankind. Since the unprecedented spiritual and cultural upsurge in 20th-century Romania came almost entirely from Orthodoxy, this could help build a bridge between Russia and Romania. Unfortunately, the issue of Moldova and its identity is so fundamental that concessions on it are impossible, and this makes rapprochement with the Romanians extremely problematic.

But if Orthodox Romanians for Russians remain “strangers among their own”, then before our eyes a unique opportunity opens up to see “ours among strangers” in Catholic Hungarians. The challenge to the modern world - the world of “tolerance”, abortion, gay parades and private central banks - that Hungary threw down would deserve praise even if there were serious contradictions between Russians and Hungarians. But there are no such contradictions. The territorial claim of Hungary to the cities and villages of Transcarpathia inhabited by the Magyars like Beregovo, which became part of the USSR in 1947, does not affect the interests of the Great Russians and Little Russians and may well be satisfied. The service that the Hungarian Jobbik party rendered to Russia quite recently, having achieved the exclusion of Tyagnibokov's Svoboda from the alliance of European right-wing parties, is so great that it would be nice to thank the Hungarians. In conclusion, let us refer to the Italian politician, the leader of Italian Eurasianism and a great friend of Russia, Claudio Mutti, who in 2012 devoted an entire article to proving the inevitability of the future of Hungary as a member of the Eurasian Union (perhaps along with the European Union) and as a Russian outpost in Eastern Europe. Perhaps Hungary can really share this role with Slovakia.

The people of Greece and Cyprus, pressed on both sides by the greedy European Union and the neo-Ottoman project of Erdogan, are turning towards Russia and the planned Eurasian Union before our eyes. Alexander Dugin's recent triumphal trip and his interviews with Greek magazines are clear evidence of this. If we recall that the authoritative professor Dimitris Kitsikis rehabilitated Lamansky's concept of the Greek-Slavic "middle world" at a new level, then the prospect of Greece and Cyprus turning towards Russia becomes quite realistic.

Finally, the Russians should get rid of the stereotypes about Albania. Today, admiration for the European Union and the United States in this country (unlike Kosovo) is no more than in Serbia, Montenegro or Bulgaria, but the attitude towards Russians is even warmer. It affects half a century of the Stalinist regime, when all Albanians learned Russian, unlike the Yugoslavs; but the real absence of contradictions between our peoples also affects. Thus, Albania, especially after the restoration of justice in Kosovo, may well become an additional support for Russia in Eastern Europe.

A similar reassessment of the roles of "us" and "them" can, of course, be carried out in relation to the Slavs. Perhaps Russians do not always realize that Poles and Croats, Czechs and Serbs are no longer the same as we knew them in tsarist or Soviet times. But this is a topic for a separate discussion.

Settlement and ethno-linguistic affiliation. The territories occupied by non-Slavic peoples in the European part of Russia are mainly located in the eastern and northwestern parts of the region. With rare exceptions, at present they do not form mono-ethnic areas anywhere, living in strips. At the same time, the majority of the rural population in these areas is non-Slavic, and Russians predominate among urban residents.

The non-Slavic population of the European part of Russia, excluding later settlers, according to the linguistic classification, belongs to two language families: Altaic and Ural-Yukaghir.

Representatives of the Altai family are concentrated in the regions of the Middle and Lower Volga regions, as well as the Urals. The only people belonging to the Mongolian branch of this family are the Kalmyks, who first appeared on the territory of the Lower Volga region in the 1930s. 17th century from Dzungaria, one of the regions located in the north-west of Central Asia. The Turkic branch of the Altaic language family includes Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvashs, Kryashens and Nagaybaks. Tatars, Kryashens and Nagaybaks speak various dialects of the Tatar language. The languages ​​of the Tatars and Bashkirs belong to the Kypchak subgroup of the Turkic languages, and the Chuvash belongs to the Bulgar.

The peoples of the Ural-Yukaghir language family live both in the Middle Volga and Ural regions, and in the north-west of the European part of the country. The extreme northeast of Eastern Europe is occupied by the Nenets, a people whose ethnic territory also includes the northern regions of Siberia from the Urals to the Taimyr Peninsula. The Nenets speak the Nenets language of the Samoyedic group of the Ural-Yukaghir language family.

The rest of the peoples of the Ural-Yukaghir language family living in the territory of the European part of Russia belong to the Finnish group of the Finno-Ugric branch. In the Urals and the Kama region live ethnic groups that speak the languages ​​​​of the Permian (Finno-Permian) subgroup. The Komi-Zyryan language is native to two peoples - the Komi-Zyryans and the Komi-Izhems. Most Komi-Permyaks use the Komi-Permyak language. Only a small ethnographic group of them - the Komi-Yazvinians, living separately in the north-east of the Perm Territory, formed an independent language. The southernmost people of the Permian (Finno-Permian) subgroup are the Udmurts, who live in the interfluve of the river. Vyatka and Kama. Besermen settled in the north-west of Udmurtia, speaking one of the dialects of the Udmurt language.

Two peoples of the Volga-Finnish subgroup of the Finnish group live in the Middle Volga region. These include the Mari, most of whom speak the meadow (meadow-eastern) Mari language, and the western group, which mainly occupies the right bank of the Volga, speaks the Mountain Mari language. The Mordovians also formed two independent languages: Moksha and Erzya.

In the north-west of the European part of Russia, there are ethnic groups that speak the Baltic-Finnish languages ​​​​of the Finnish group: Finns-Ingrian, Vod, Izhora, Setu, Veps, Karelians. The Karelian language is represented by three significantly different dialects - Karelian proper, Livvik and Ludikov, which are more correctly considered independent languages. Setu speak one of the dialects of the Estonian language. A special position within the Baltic-Finnish subgroup is occupied by the Sami language, which contains about a third of the original, Dao-Finnish vocabulary.

Among other non-Slavic ethnic groups that began to actively settle in the European part of Russia since the 18th century, the most significant in terms of numbers are Germans, Jews and gypsies. For Germans and Jews, the native languages ​​of the Germanic group of the Indo-European language family are German and Yiddish, although the majority uses Russian in everyday life. The Romani language belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages.

Among the Eastern European gypsies, Russian-Roman (Northern Russian), Lovar (Carpatho-Gypsy) and Kotlyar (Kelderar) dialects of this language are common.

According to the All-Russian population census of 2010, the Tatars are the largest ethnic group in Russia after the Russians. Of the total number of 5.3 million people. 2 million people live in the Republic of Tatarstan, about 1 million people live in the Republic of Bashkortostan. and more than 1.2 million people. in other regions and republics of the Volga and Ural regions. The second largest Turkic people are the Bashkirs - 1.6 million people. They make up a significant part of the population of Bashkortostan - about 1.2 million people. The number of Chuvash people exceeds 1.4 million people. More than half of them - over 0.8 million people. concentrated within the Chuvash Republic. 30 thousand kryashns out of a total number of 35 thousand people. are residents of the Republic of Tatarstan. Of the 8.1 thousand Nagaybaks, about 7.7 thousand people. live in the Chelyabinsk region. The vast majority of Kalmyks - 163 thousand out of 183 thousand people. - are residents of the Republic of Kalmykia.

The Komi-Zyryans are predominantly settled in the Komi Republic. More than 202 thousand Komi-Zyryans were recorded here out of a total number of 228 thousand people. The majority of Komi-Izhma residents also live here - 13 thousand out of 16 thousand people. The number of Komi-Permyaks is 94 thousand people, of which 81 thousand people. - the population of the Perm region. Of the 552 thousand Udmurts, 411 thousand people. - residents of the republic of the same name. Significant groups of the Udmurt population are also settled in neighboring regions. The total number of Mari reaches 548 thousand people, of which more than half - 291 thousand people. concentrated within the Republic of Mari El. Mordva is the largest Finnish-speaking people of the Russian Federation, accounting for 744 thousand people. Less than half of all Mordovians live in the Republic of Mordovia - 333 thousand people.

Of the Baltic-Finnish ethnic groups, the Karelians are the largest in number - about 61 thousand people. Most of them - about 46 thousand people. - lives in the Republic of Karelia. Of the 20.3 thousand Ingrian Finns, 8.6 thousand people are concentrated in Karelia, 6.9 thousand people in the Leningrad Region and St. Petersburg. The Vepsian population is more than 5.9 thousand people, of which over 3.4 thousand are residents of Karelia, about 1.4 thousand people. lives in the Leningrad region. The Setos mostly live in the Pskov region (123 out of 214 people). Of the 266 Izhorians in the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg, 206 people were recorded. Total 64 people. called themselves Vodya, 59 of them are residents of the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg. The Saami are the indigenous population of the Kola Peninsula. 1.6 thousand Saami live in the Murmansk region out of a total of 1.8 thousand people.

The German population of the Russian Federation is 394 thousand people, but in the European part of the country its number is less than in Siberia. The number of Jews in Russia is 157 thousand people. About half of the Jewish population are residents of the two largest cities - Moscow (53 thousand people) and St. Petersburg (24 thousand people). The gypsy population of Russia is 205 thousand people, while a third of them (about 69 thousand people) live in four southern regions of the country: Stavropol, Krasnodar, Rostov and Volgograd regions.

Anthropologically, the non-Slavic peoples of the European part of Russia belong to both the Caucasoid and Mongoloid large races. Some groups of ethnic groups of the Finnish group of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Ural-Yukagir language family, living mainly in the eastern and northern regions of the European part of Russia, have signs of a Mongoloid race, which distinguishes them as special transitional subarctic (according to V.V. Bunak) and Uralic races . The Saami belong to the subarctic race. Among the Finnish-speaking ethnic groups of the Urals and the Volga region, groups belonging to the Subural type of the Ural race are common (Komi-Zyryans, Komi-Izhemtsy, Komi-Permyaks, Udmurts, Mari, Mordva-Moksha).

Mordva-Erzya, northern and western groups of Komi-Zyryans, Baltic-Finnish ethnic groups (Ingrian Finns, Vods, Izhors, Karelians and Vepsians) are more Caucasoid, having only a slight Mongoloid admixture and belong to the White Sea-Baltic minor race, within which East Baltic and Belomorsky types. Among them, the East Baltic type is the most common, while the White Sea type is characteristic of the northern groups of Karelians, Komi-Zyryans, and Komi-Izhemtsy.

The complexity of the formation of the Turkic-speaking peoples of the European part of the country was reflected in their anthropological appearance. Most of the Chuvash, Tatars, Kryashens, Nagaibaks, and the northwestern groups of Bashkirs belong to the Subural type of the Ural race. The southeastern groups of Bashkirs are dominated by features of the South Siberian race. The Astrakhan Tatars living in the Lower Volga region belong to the same race. Typical Mongoloids of the Central Asian race are the Kalmyks.

Gypsies belong to the North Indian type of the Indo-Pamirian minor race of a large Caucasoid family. Most of the Jews belong to the Armenoid (pre-Naziatian) race. But as a result of mixing with other Caucasians, among them there are representatives of various variants of the large Caucasian race.

Among the non-Slavic peoples of the European part of Russia there are adherents of different faiths. The Kalmyks are the only ethnic group whose traditional religion is Buddhism in the form of Lamaism. The Bashkirs, as well as most of the Tatars, adhere to the Sunni direction of Islam. The national religion of the Jews is Judaism. Christianity is represented by all three major denominations. Ingrian Finns are Lutherans. Among the Germans there are both Lutherans and Catholics. Most of the ethnic communities in the region are considered Orthodox. Among them stand out the Old Believers, which include part of the Karelians, Komi-Zyryans and Komi-Permyaks. Part of the Mari retains pagan beliefs. Elements of paganism can be traced to varying degrees in most of the ethnic groups professing Orthodoxy, but they are most pronounced among the Saami, Udmurts and Chuvash.

The countries of Eastern Europe are a natural-territorial array located between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas. The main part of the population of Eastern Europe is made up of Slavs and Greeks, and in the western part of the mainland, Romanesque and Germanic peoples predominate.

Eastern European countries

Eastern Europe is a historical and geographical region that includes the following countries (according to the United Nations classification):

• Poland.
• Czech Republic.
• Slovakia.
• Hungary.
• Romania.
• Bulgaria.
• Belarus.
• Russia.
• Ukraine.
• Moldova.

The history of the formation and development of the Eastern European states is a long and difficult path. The formation of the region began in the prehistoric era. In the first millennium of our era, there was an active settlement of Eastern Europe by the population. Later, the first states were formed.

The peoples of Eastern Europe have a very complex ethnic composition. It was this fact that caused the fact that in these countries there were often conflicts on ethnic grounds. Today the region is dominated by the Slavic peoples. About how the statehood, population and culture of Eastern Europe were formed, further.

First peoples in Eastern Europe (BC)

The Cimmerians are considered to be the very first peoples of Eastern Europe. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus says that the Cimmerians lived in the first and second millennium BC. The Cimmerians settled mainly in the Azov region. This is evidenced by the characteristic names (Cimmerian Bosporus, Cimmerian crossings, Cimmeria region). The graves of the Cimmerians who died in clashes with the Scythians on the Dniester were also discovered.

In the 8th century BC, there were many Greek colonies in Eastern Europe. The following cities were founded: Chersonese, Feodosia, Phanagoria and others. Basically, all the cities were trading. Spiritual and material culture was quite well developed in the Black Sea settlements. Archaeologists to this day find evidence confirming this fact.

The next people inhabiting Eastern Europe in the prehistoric period were the Scythians. We know about them from the works of Herodotus. They lived on the northern coast of the Black Sea. In the 7th-5th century BC, the Scythians spread to the Kuban, Don, appeared in Taman. The Scythians were engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture, crafts. All these areas were developed by them. They traded with the Greek colonies.

In the II century BC, the Sarmatians made their way to the land of the Scythians, defeated the first and settled the territory of the Black Sea and the Caspian.

In the same period, the Goths appeared in the Black Sea steppes - Germanic tribes. For a long time they oppressed the Scythians, but only in the 4th century AD they managed to completely oust them from these territories. Their leader - Germanarich then occupied almost all of Eastern Europe.

The peoples of Eastern Europe in antiquity and the Middle Ages

The kingdom of the Goths did not last long. Their place was taken by the Huns, a people from the Mongolian steppes. From the 4th-5th centuries they waged their own wars, but in the end their union broke up, some remained in the Black Sea region, others went east.

In the VI century, the Avars appear, they, like the Huns, came from Asia. Their state was located where the Hungarian Plain is now. Until the beginning of the 9th century, the Avar state existed. The Avars often clashed with the Slavs, as the Tale of Bygone Years says, they attacked Byzantium and Western Europe. As a result, they were defeated by the Franks.

In the seventh century, the Khazar state was formed. The North Caucasus, the Lower and Middle Volga, the Crimea, the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov were dominated by the Khazars. Belenjer, Semender, Itil, Tamatarkha are the largest cities of the Khazar state. In economic activity, emphasis was placed on the use of trade routes that passed through the territory of the state. They were also involved in the slave trade.

In the 7th century, the state of Volga Bulgaria appeared. It was inhabited by Bulgars and Finno-Ugric peoples. In 1236, the Bulgars were attacked by the Mongol-Tatars, in the process of assimilation, these peoples began to disappear.

In the 9th century, the Pechenegs appeared between the Dnieper and the Don, they fought with the Khazars and Rus. Prince Igor went with the Pechenegs to Byzantium, but then a conflict broke out between the peoples, which escalated into long wars. In 1019 and 1036, Yaroslav the Wise dealt blows to the Pecheneg people, and they became vassals of Rus'.

In the 11th century, the Polovtsians came from Kazakhstan. They raided trade caravans. By the middle of the next century, their possessions stretched from the Dnieper to the Volga. Both Rus' and Byzantium reckoned with them. A crushing defeat was inflicted on them by Vladimir Monomakh, after which they retreated to the Volga, beyond the Urals and Transcaucasia.

Slavic peoples

The first mention of the Slavs appear around the first millennium of our era. A more accurate description of these peoples falls on the middle of the same millennium. They are called Slovenians at this time. Byzantine authors speak of the Slavs on the Balkan Peninsula and in the Danube region.

Depending on the territory of residence, the Slavs were divided into western, eastern and southern. So, the southern Slavs settled in the southeast of Europe, the western Slavs - in Central and Eastern Europe, the eastern - directly in Eastern Europe.

It was in Eastern Europe that the Slavs assimilated with the Finno-Ugric tribes. The Slavs of Eastern Europe were the largest group. The eastern ones were initially divided into tribes: the glades, the drevlyans, the northerners, the Dregovichi, the Polochans, the Krivichi, the Radimichi, the Vyatichi, the Ilmen Slovenes, and the Buzhans.

Today, the East Slavic peoples include Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians. To the Western Slavs - Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and others. Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Macedonians, and so on belong to the southern Slavs.

Modern population of Eastern Europe

The ethnic composition is heterogeneous. Which nationalities prevail there, and which are in the minority, we will consider further. 95% of ethnic Czechs live in the Czech Republic. In Poland - 97% are Poles, the rest are Gypsies, Germans, Ukrainians, Belarusians.

Slovakia is a small but multinational country. Ten percent of the population are Hungarians, 2% are gypsies, 0.8% are Czechs, 0.6% are Russians and Ukrainians, 1.4% are representatives of other nationalities. 92 percent consists of Hungarians or, as they are also called Magyars. The rest are Germans, Jews, Romanians, Slovaks and so on.

Romanians make up 89% followed by Hungarians - 6.5%. The peoples of Romania also include Ukrainians, Germans, Turks, Serbs and others. As part of the population of Bulgaria, Bulgarians are in first place - 85.4%, and Turks are in second position - 8.9%.

In Ukraine, 77% of the population are Ukrainians, 17% are Russians. The ethnic composition of the population is represented by large groups of Belarusians, Moldovans, Crimean Tatars, Bulgarians, and Hungarians. In Moldova, the main population is Moldovans, followed by Ukrainians.

Most multinational countries

The most multinational among the countries of Eastern Europe is Russia. More than one hundred and eighty nationalities live here. The Russians are first. In each region there is an indigenous population of Russia, for example, the Chukchi, Koryaks, Tungus, Daurs, Nanais, Eskimos, Aleuts and others.

More than one hundred and thirty nations live on the territory of Belarus. The majority (83%) are Belarusians, then Russians - 8.3%. Gypsies, Azerbaijanis, Tatars, Moldovans, Germans, Chinese, Uzbeks are also in the ethnic composition of the population of this country.

How did Eastern Europe develop?

Archaeological research in Eastern Europe gives a picture of the gradual development of this region. Archaeological finds speak of the presence of people here since antiquity. The tribes inhabiting this territory cultivated their lands manually. During excavations, scientists found ears of various cereals. They were engaged in both cattle breeding and fishing.

Culture: Poland, Czech Republic

Each state has its own peoples Eastern Europe is diverse. Polish is rooted in the culture of the ancient Slavs, but Western European traditions also had a great importance on it. In the field of literature, Poland was glorified by Adam Mickiewicz and Stanisław Lemm. The population of Poland is mostly Catholics, their culture and traditions are inextricably linked with the canons of religion.

The Czech Republic has always maintained its identity. In the first place in the field of culture is architecture. There are many palace squares, castles, fortresses, historical monuments. Literature in the Czech Republic was developed only in the nineteenth century. Czech poetry was “founded” by K.G. Mach.

Painting, sculpture and architecture in the Czech Republic has a long history. Mikolash Alesh, Alphonse Mucha are the most famous representatives of this trend. There are many museums and galleries in the Czech Republic, among them unique ones - the Museum of Torture, the National Museum, the Jewish Museum. The richness of cultures, their similarities - all this matters when it comes to the friendship of neighboring states.

Culture of Slovakia and Hungary

In Slovakia, all celebrations are inextricably linked with nature. National holidays in Slovakia: the feast of the Three Kings, similarly to Shrovetide - the removal of Madder, the feast of Lucia. Each region of Slovakia has its own folk customs. Wood carving, painting, weaving are the main occupations in the countryside in this country.

Music and dance are at the forefront of Hungarian culture. Music and theater festivals often take place here. Another distinctive feature is the Hungarian baths. The architecture is dominated by Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque styles. The culture of Hungary is characterized by folk crafts in the form of embroidered products, wood and bone products, and wall panels. In Hungary, cultural, historical and natural monuments of world importance are located everywhere. In terms of culture and language, neighboring peoples were influenced by Hungary: Ukraine, Slovakia, Moldova.

Romanian and Bulgarian culture

Romanians are mostly Orthodox. This country is considered to be the birthplace of European gypsies, which left its mark on culture.

Bulgarians and Romanians are Orthodox Christians, so their cultural traditions are similar to other Eastern European nations. The oldest occupation of the Bulgarian people is winemaking. The architecture of Bulgaria was influenced by Byzantium, especially in religious buildings.

Culture of Belarus, Russia and Moldova

The culture of Belarus and Russia was largely influenced by Orthodoxy. St. Sophia Cathedral, Borisoglebsky Monastery appeared. Decorative and applied arts are widely developed here. Jewelry, pottery and foundry are common in all parts of the state. Chronicles appeared here in the 13th century.

The culture of Moldova developed under the influence of the Roman and Ottoman empires. Proximity in origin with the peoples of Romania, the Russian Empire had its significance.

The culture of Russia occupies a huge layer in Eastern European traditions. It is represented very widely in literature, art, and architecture.

Relationship between culture and history

The culture of Eastern Europe is inextricably linked with the history of the peoples of Eastern Europe. This is a symbiosis of various foundations and traditions, which at different times influenced cultural life and its development. Directions in the culture of Eastern Europe largely depended on the religion of the population. Here it was Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

Languages ​​of the peoples of Europe

The languages ​​of the peoples of Europe belong to three main groups: Romance, Germanic, Slavic. The Slavic group includes thirteen modern languages, several minor languages ​​and dialects. They are the main ones in Eastern Europe.

Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian are part of the Eastern Slavic group. The main dialects of the Russian language: northern, central and southern.

Ukrainian has Carpathian dialects, southwestern and southeastern. The language was influenced by the long neighborhood of Hungary and Ukraine. The Belarusian language has a southwestern dialect and a Minsk dialect. The West Slavic group includes Polish and Czechoslovak dialects.

Several subgroups are distinguished in the South Slavic group of languages. So, there is an eastern subgroup with Bulgarian and Macedonian. Slovenian also belongs to the Western subgroup.

The official language in Moldova is Romanian. Moldovan and Romanian are, in fact, the same language of neighboring countries. That is why it is considered to be state. The only difference is that the Romanian language has more borrowed from and the Moldavian language - from Russia.

No matter how significant in size the Old Russian state, it occupied only a part of the forest zone in the northern part of Eastern Europe. In the north and northwest, it was bordered by many Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes, who were in varying degrees dependent on the Kyiv princes. In the introductory part of The Tale of Bygone Years, a list of such tribes is given, "who also give tribute to Rus'."

A number of such tribes occupied the southern part of the Baltic. These are Lithuania, the tribes of the Curonians who lived along the Baltic coast south of the Gulf of Riga, the Livs - along the lower reaches of the Western Dvina and the coast of the Baltic Sea. Closer to the Russian lands, in the basin of the Western Dvina, there were the tribes of the Zemgalians and, to the north of them, the Latgalians. To the north of these Baltic tribes were the Finno-Ugric tribes of the Estonians, designated in the Russian chronicles by the name "Chud". In the list of tribes that bordered the Russian land from the west, the tribe "Em" is also mentioned - to the west and north of Lake Onega. Data on social relations among these tribes, dating back to the first decades of the 13th century, make it possible to characterize them as pre-state formations in which there already existed a prosperous tribal elite that stood out from the rest of the population and fortified settlements appeared, but there was no professional military force and the institution of princely power. . These societies knew only leaders who were chosen for the duration of the war. There were no major political associations here.

A different situation since the last decades of the XII century. formed in Lithuania. Since that time, the neighboring Russian lands began to be subjected to raids by Lithuanian squads, by the end of the second decade of the 13th century. along with the princes of individual lands (Zhemogitia, Devoltva), there were already “senior” princes who were at the head of all Lithuania.

Our sources, where you can get information about these tribes, contain mainly information about their relationship with the Old Russian state. In general, the ancient Russian princes were content with collecting tribute from these tribes, without interfering in their internal life. But even at the same time, the degree of dependence of these tribes on the Old Russian state, and then on individual Old Russian principalities, was different. In the southern Baltic - the zone of influence of the Polotsk land - the dependence of Lithuania was the most fragile, tribute was collected from it irregularly, and from the second half of the 12th century. she stopped acting altogether. Stronger was the dependence of the Baltic population in the basin of the Western Dvina, where the strongholds of influence of Polotsk were founded - the fortresses of Kukenoys and Gertsike. The fairly close subordination of the Livs and Latgalians to the power of Polotsk is evidenced by the appearance in their language of the word pagast (from the other Russian “graveyard”) to designate a tribute collection point.

In the northern part of the Baltic, in the zone of political influence of Novgorod, the Estonian tribes persistently resisted attempts to subdue them to the power of the Novgorod state. In order to achieve payment of tribute, the Novgorod princes constantly had to undertake military campaigns on these lands. Sometimes the Estonian tribes managed to unite for retaliatory joint actions. So, in 1176, "the whole Peipsi land" came on a campaign to Pskov.

However, Novgorod did not have such relations with all Finno-Ugric tribes that were in the sphere of influence of the Novgorod state. In particular, Novgorod had allied relations with such tribes near its western borders as Izhora, Vod, Karela. On the pages of the Novgorod chronicles of the XII - the first half of the XIII century. these tribes do not act as objects of campaigns of the Novgorod army. On the contrary, the "Karela" together with him repeatedly participated in military campaigns not only against the western neighbors, but also against the princes of Rostov, and the Izherians and leaders - in the army of Alexander Nevsky in the war with the German crusaders. Rapprochement with Novgorod led to the spread of Christianity among these tribes. So, in 1227, “Karela”, “not all people” were baptized.

In the Russian North, on the lands lying to the north and northeast of Novgorod, the tributaries of Rus' were, according to the Tale of Bygone Years, "Zavoloch Chud", "Perm" and "Pechera". The Finno-Ugric population of the Northern Dvina basin was called the Zavoloch Chud. The term "Perm" denoted a whole group of Finno-Ugric tribes, the ancestors of such peoples as the Komi-Permyaks, the Komi-Zyryans and the Udmurts. The term "Pechera" apparently referred to a part of the Komi-Zyryans who inhabited the basin of the Pechora River. If the Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes of the Baltic, as well as the Eastern Slavs, the main occupation was agriculture, then in the economy of the population of the North, hunting, fishing and crafts were no less, and perhaps even more important, which was associated with rather unfavorable conditions for agriculture under natural conditions. The ancestors of the Komi-Zyryans, who lived in the Vym River basin, were hunters and cattle breeders, the ancestors of the Komi-Permyaks, who settled in the upper Kama, were engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture, hunting and fishing, and only among the Udmurts the main occupation was agriculture. On the social structure of these tribes in the XII-XIII centuries. no definite evidence of written sources has been preserved, but it is obvious that they did not even have rudimentary forms of state organization at that time. The remains of fortified settlements discovered by archaeologists - settlements, burials, differing from others in richer inventory, indicates that the process of social differentiation of the population began here too.

The fate of these population groups of the Russian North in the XII-XII centuries. turned out to be different. The territory of the "Zavolochskaya Chud" was included in the Novgorod state relatively early. In the 30s. 12th century along the Northern Dvina and its tributaries there was already a network of Novgorod churchyards, reaching the very confluence of the river into the White Sea, on the coast of which salt was boiled out of sea water. At the same time, Slavic colonization coming from Novgorod was directed to these lands. The soils of the Novgorod land were distinguished by particularly low fertility, and the multiplying population had to constantly look for new territories for their livelihood. The small local population mixed with the newcomers, gradually assimilating their language and customs. In the XIII century. Christian churches were already being built on graveyards, where liturgical books were sent from Novgorod. However, in the XIII century. there were still large groups of the Finno-Ugric population who did not accept Christianity - in the “Word about the destruction of the Russian land”, a monument written in the Rostov land immediately after the Tatar-Mongol invasion, “filthy Toymichi” are mentioned, who lived north of Ustyug in the upper reaches Northern Dvina. As for the "Perm" and "Pechora", relations with them developed in the same way as with the tribes of the Baltic states, with the difference that tribute was levied in the furs of expensive fur-bearing animals (primarily sable). To collect tribute, "tributaries" with military detachments were sent. Such trips do not always end well. Under 1187, in the Novgorod I chronicle, it was noted that the “tributaries of the Caves” were killed in the Pechora.

To the east of Perm and Pechora, in the Trans-Urals and the lower reaches of the Ob, there was Yugra - the tribes of the Ob Ugrians, Khanty and Mansi - relatives of the Hungarians who migrated to Central Europe, hunters and fishermen. At the beginning of the XII century. Novgorod warriors, who went to the Pechora for tribute, knew that Yugra lay further east, which at that time did not belong to the number of tributaries of Rus'. But already under 1187 in the Novgorod I Chronicle, "Yugorsk tributaries" are mentioned. The collection of tribute in Ugra was a difficult and dangerous business. In 1193, the entire Novgorod army sent there to collect tribute died here. The story about the events of 1193 mentions "grads", their fortified settlements, which were besieged by the Novgorodians. And much later, a whole army had to be sent to Yugra to collect tribute. In 1445, such an army again suffered serious losses from local residents.

In the "midnight countries" Yugra was adjacent to the "Samoyed" - the tribes of the Nenets reindeer herders. At the beginning of the XII century. in Novgorod, a legend clearly dating back to their folklore was known about a wonderful place in which young squirrels and deer descend from the sky. But these tribes at that time did not enter the zone of Novgorodian influence. The fate of another group of the population of the Far North - the Saami reindeer herders (Lapps of Russian sources) turned out to be different. Already in the first decades of the XIII century. Novgorod tribute extended to the Saami, who lived on the western and southern coast of the Kola Peninsula ("Tersky coast", "volost Tre" Novgorod sources). In 1216, the death of the "Terek tributary" in the Battle of Lipitsa is mentioned. Here, while advancing to the west, the tribute collectors from Novgorod encountered the tribute collectors from Norway. In 1251, the Novgorod prince Alexander Nevsky concluded an agreement with the Norwegian king Hakon, which established the borders of both states in this area. On that part of the land inhabited by the Sami, which was located in the region of these borders, collectors who came from both Novgorod and Norway could simultaneously collect tribute.

On the territory of North-Eastern Rus', as its tributaries, the introductory part of The Tale of Bygone Years mentions "merya", "all" and "muroma". The mention of the first two ethnonyms is surprising, since both “merya” and “all” were very early prophetic in the composition of the Old Russian state. The main administrative center of the region, Rostov, was set up on the land of Mary, and later another large center, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. The territory occupied by this branch of the Finno-Ugric peoples began to be settled very early by the Eastern Slavs who came from the north-west, and then from the south. Even in the second half of the XI century. Bishop Leonty of Rostov taught the “Meryan language” in order to preach Christianity among the local population, but later there are no references to it in the sources, which indicates a fairly rapid assimilation of this Finno-Ugric ethnic group by the Eastern Slavs.

"Ves" (the ancestors of the Finno-Ugric people of the Veps) also became part of the Old Russian state quite early. Already in the X century. the center of princely power here was Beloozero, founded where the Sheksna River flows from the White Lake. In the 70s. 11th century graveyards were already located along Sheksna, in which tribute was collected in favor of the prince. The East Slavic population also gradually penetrated into this region, but "the whole" for a long time continued to maintain its own special language and customs. Early became part of the Old Russian state and "murom", about which, apart from the name, almost nothing is known. Muroma lived around the city of Murom on the Oka. In Murom already at the beginning of the XI century. sat the son of Vladimir Svyatoslavich Gleb.

As tributaries of Rus', the Tale of Bygone Years also mentions "Cheremis" and "Mordva". The term "cheremis" in ancient Russian sources refers to the ancestors of the Mari, the Ugro-Finnish people who settled in the Middle Volga region on both sides of the Volga ("mountain cheremis" on the right bank of the Volga and "meadow" on the left bank). The Mari were mainly cattle-breeding, agriculture was of less importance to them. Their society was subjected to a strong cultural influence of the Volga Bulgaria neighboring with the Mari. Mordva - Finno-Ugric ethnic group, divided into two ethnographic groups - Erzya and Moksha, occupied a vast territory between the Volga, Oka, Tsna and Sura. The land of the Mordovians as a special country "Mordia" is mentioned in the work of the Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus "On the management of the empire" (mid-10th century).

In the IX-X centuries. "Cheremis" and Mordovians were dependent on the Khazar Khaganate, and after its fall, the influence of Rus' began to spread to them. As for the "Cheremis", then all the information about its relations with Ancient Russia in the X-XI centuries. limited to the above reference. Obviously, her ties with Ancient Russia were not particularly strong. One can also doubt the strong dependence on Ancient Rus' of the “Mordovian land”. Acquaintance with the records of the chroniclers who worked in the north-east of Rus' shows that for the rulers of the Rostov land, the task of subordinating the Mordovian lands became relevant only after the laying of Nizhny Novgorod in 1221 at the confluence of the Oka into the Volga. Messages about the campaigns of these princes against the Mordovians contain important information about the economy and social structure of the Mordovian tribes. In an effort to break the resistance of the Mordovians, the Russian troops "burned life and potravisha." This shows that the main economic occupation of the Mordvins in the XIII century. was agriculture. The resistance offered to the troops of the Russian princes was stubborn, they repeatedly suffered serious losses. In 1228, the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich himself set out on a campaign against the Mordovians, but military operations continued with varying success even after that. At the head of the Mordovian tribes by this time there were already princes who occupied different positions. Prince Puresh was a "company" - a vassal of the Grand Duke of Vladimir who took the "company" - an oath, and Prince Purgas was his opponent and attacked Nizhny Novgorod. The princes waged wars among themselves. So, the son of Puresh attacked Purgas together with the Polovtsians.

Nevertheless, the great princes of Vladimir managed to achieve certain successes in subordinating the lands of the Middle Volga region. The author of "The Word about the Destruction of the Russian Land" recalled that before the Mongol-Tatar invasion "Burtasi, Cheremisi, Vyada and Mordva bortnichahu against the great prince." Vyada is the so-called Vad Mordva, which inhabited the valley of the Vada River. Burtases in the sources of the X century. mentioned as one of the tribes

Middle Volga region, which were subordinate to the Khazar Khaganate at that time. According to some researchers, this could be called the Turkic-speaking neighbors of the Mordovians - the Chuvash. "The Word about the destruction of the Russian land" is the first monument that notes the role of "beekeeping" - beekeeping as one of the main occupations of these tribes of the Middle Volga region. Therefore, tribute was collected from them in honey.

In their way of life, the tribes of the Bashkirs, who were cattle breeders, bred horses and sheep, differed from their neighbors. Wandering in the summer on the territory of the Southern Urals, they moved south in winter - to the valley of the Yaik River, the Caspian and Aral steppes. The Old Russian state had no contacts with the Bashkirs during the early Middle Ages.

What has been said about the population living in the forest zone of Eastern Europe allows us to draw two important conclusions. Firstly, the Old Russian state from the moment of its formation was multi-ethnic, and with the expansion of its borders, all new groups of the non-Slavic population turned out to be in its composition, which, in the course of historical development, merged into the composition of the Old Russian nationality. Secondly, when assessing the state of the Old Russian society in the pre-Mongol period, one should take into account that the insufficient surplus product produced by this society was significantly replenished by tributes from the tribes on the western, northern and eastern borders of the Old Russian State. Especially significant were the incomes received in these centuries in Novgorod the Great.

Of the peoples neighboring the Old Russian state on the territory of Eastern Europe, a special place belonged to Volga Bulgaria. Although the Turkic-speaking Bulgarians were originally nomads who retreated to the forest-steppe regions of the Middle Volga from the possessions of the Khazars lying to the south, already in the 10th century. there was a transition of the bulk of the population to agriculture. According to Arab authors, they cultivated wheat, barley, millet and other agricultural crops. The political association created here was a real state, the ruler of which was a vassal of the Khazar Khagan. Its capital, the city of Bolgar, was an important center of trade, where Arab merchants met with the Rus, who brought furs and slaves from the North. A silver coin imitating Arab dirhems was minted here. In the first decades of the tenth century The population of Volga Bulgaria converted to Islam. With the weakening and then the decline of the Khazar Khaganate, the Bulgarian state became independent.

The ruling elite of the Old Russian state understood that Bulgaria occupied a special place among its neighbors. This is evidenced by the folklore story read in The Tale of Bygone Years, how, after Vladimir’s victory over the Bulgarians, his uncle Dobrynya, having discovered that the captured prisoners were all in boots, came to the conclusion that it would not be possible to collect tribute here and it would be better to look for those who walk in bast shoes. This story reflected the idea of ​​the wealth of Volga Bulgaria, in comparison with the neighboring tribes, and that it should be treated as a serious political partner.

This strong state sought to expand its borders in the North, extending its influence to the Upper Volga region. According to the testimony of Arab authors of the 10th century, the rulers of Volga Bulgaria were paid tribute by part of the Bashkir tribes. In the composition of the Bulgarian state by the XII century. the lands of the southern branch of the Udmurts, the ara, in the lower reaches of the Kama, also entered. The Arab traveler Abu Hamid al-Garnati wrote that the Bulgarian rulers took tribute from the Vesi. Here the interests of the Bulgarian rulers collided with the interests of the rulers of the Rostov land. There are reports of Bulgarian attacks on Suzdal and Yaroslavl.

From the 60s. 12th century campaigns of Russian princes began on the Middle Volga, stories about which contain a number of important information about Volga Bulgaria. At the head of this state was the "prince of Bulgaria", to whom other "princes" were subordinate. During the hostilities, the Bulgarians fielded cavalry and foot troops, who fought stubbornly with the Russian armies. On the pages of the chronicles there are repeated references to the capital of the state - "the glorious great city of Bulgaria", in which there are many goods. The Bulgarian state was a dangerous rival of the princes who sat in Vladimir on the Klyazma, but it lost the struggle for the Upper Volga region with the founding of Nizhny Novgorod. Failures, apparently, were offset by the expansion of the borders of the Bulgarian state in the south. The Bulgarian "watchmen" met Batu's troops moving to Eastern Europe on the Yaik River.

In the steppe zone of Eastern Europe, with the weakening of the Khazar Khaganate, the movement of nomadic unions from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea region began. By the end of the ninth century The union of the Pecheneg tribes became the master of the Eastern European steppes. According to the testimony of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the Pecheneg union consisted of eight tribes, four of them roamed to the east, and four - to the west of the Dnieper. In the west, the lands where the Pechenegs roamed extended beyond Eastern Europe. Their camps reached the northern borders of the First Bulgarian Kingdom and the eastern borders of the emerging Hungarian state. Detailed reports of Constantine Porphyrogenitus make it possible to judge the nature of relations between the Pechenegs and their neighbors. The constant raids of the Pechenegs on Russian lands and the measures taken to organize defense against them have already been mentioned above, but Konstantin also reports on the relationship between the Danube Bulgarians and the Pechenegs that the Bulgarians "were repeatedly defeated and robbed by them." The Pechenegs maintained lively relations with the Byzantine cities in the Crimea, where they brought captured booty for sale and brought prisoners, receiving in return precious fabrics and spices. These relations were not exhausted by raids and attacks on the trade caravans that the Rus sent to Constantinople. The Rus bought horses and sheep from the Pechenegs, and the Pechenegs purchased wax, which they sold to Byzantine merchants. As a result of constant raids and trade, great wealth accumulated in the hands of the Pecheneg nobility. The Persian historian Gardizi wrote about the Pechenegs: “they have a lot of gold and silver dishes, a lot of weapons. They wear silver belts"/

Elected leaders were at the head of individual tribes. They were elected from one specific clan, but the transfer of the post of leader from father to son was not allowed, a representative of another branch of the clan had to inherit. The Pechenegs did not have any single supreme head, and individual tribes - hordes were completely independent. Despite this, the Pechenegs were a formidable force, capable of causing serious harm to any of their neighbors by their intervention. It is no coincidence that one of the most powerful rulers of that time, the Byzantine emperor, considered it necessary to annually send ambassadors with rich gifts to the Pechenegs.

Serious failures in the fight against the Old Russian state (in 1036, Yaroslav the Wise inflicted a serious defeat on the Pechenegs near Kiev, and the defense lines created under Vladimir were pushed to the east) weakened the Pechenegs. As a result, they were pushed aside in the middle of the 11th century. to the west are the tribes of Torks (Uzes or Oguzes of eastern sources). However, the dominance of the Torks in the Eastern European steppes did not last long. According to ancient Russian chronicles, their horde suffered heavy losses from famine and epidemics and was forced to give way to the Polovtsian tribes who came from the Southern Urals (Kipchaks - eastern, Kumans - western sources). Part of the Torks migrated to Russian lands and went to the service of the Russian princes, who settled them along the eastern borders of Southern Rus', so that they would protect them from raids from the steppe. A particularly significant number of Torks were settled in Kievan land in the area of ​​the Ros River, where at the end of the 11th century. their center was founded - the city of Torchesk. Having moved in new places from nomadism to shepherding, the Torks and other nomads who came to serve the Russian princes (Pechenegs, Berendeys, etc.) continued to engage in cattle breeding, retained their customs and beliefs (“their filthy” ancient Russian chronicles).

In the 60-70s. 11th century Polovtsian tribes settled in the Eastern European steppes. The Pecheneg horde, having moved to the west, began to constantly invade the lands of Byzantium, which had conquered the First Bulgarian Kingdom by this time. In 1091, the horde was defeated by the troops of the Byzantine emperor Alexei I Komnenos and the Polovs. From that time until the middle of the XIII century. the Polovtsians were full masters in the Eastern European steppes. The Polovtsians occupied the territory previously occupied by the Pechenegs. Like the Pechenegs, they made constant raids on their neighbors - the ancient Russian principalities, Byzantium, Hungary to capture booty and prisoners, most of which were sold into slavery. Like the Pechenegs, the Polovtsy maintained ties with the trading cities in the Crimea, where they exchanged booty and prisoners for the goods they needed. Like the Pechenegs, the Polovtsy did not have a single head and were divided into several independent hordes, which from time to time could unite to jointly participate in raids. Initially, like the Pechenegs, the Polovtsy were divided into two large associations, roaming one - to the west, the other - to the east of the Dnieper.

In the XII century. in the east, in the Don and Ciscaucasian steppes, the largest was the association of the Polovtsy, headed by the descendants of Khan Sharukan. Some of these Polovtsy, after the blows inflicted on this horde by Vladimir Monomakh at the beginning of the 12th century, crossed into the territory of Georgia, entering the service of the Georgian king David the Builder. Several smaller hordes (Tokobichi, Oncherlyaevs, and others) roamed next to it. In the lower reaches of the Dnieper, the Burchevich horde roamed; there was another, the most western association of the Polovtsians, who roamed the steppes from the Western Bug basin to the borders of Byzantium and Hungary.

According to researchers, the Polovtsian society has reached a higher level of development than the Pecheneg. If in the second half of the XI century. this society was still at the stage of tabor nomadism - year-round constant movement across the steppes, without allocating permanent plots for individual clans or tribes, then by the XII century. permanent habitats of individual hordes with stable migration routes and permanent places for winter and summer camps have already been determined. In the Eastern European steppes, which were well moistened at that time and abundant in grass, there were favorable conditions for running a livestock economy - breeding horses, cattle, and sheep. Under the conditions of the transition to a new way of nomadism, social differentiation intensified in the Polovtsian society. The distinguished social elite - the nobility - used in its own interests the traditional tribal organization of society, which it headed, and, in particular, the cult of ancestors especially inherent in the Polovtsians. As such ancestors, the late representatives of the nobility were especially revered, on whose graves barrows were erected, decorated with their stone images. They were the object of worship, and sacrifices were made to them. The emergence of hereditary khan dynasties among the Polovtsy also speaks of the strengthening of social differentiation. So, the largest association of Polovtsy in the Don steppes was successively headed by Khan Sharukan, his sons Syrchan and Atrak, his grandson Konchak and great-grandson Yuri Konchakovich. In stories about the campaigns of Russian princes against the Polovtsy in the second decade of the XII century. “Cities” located on the territory of the Polovtsian nomad camps are mentioned - the city of Sharukan on the banks of the Seversky Donets and Sugrov and Balin, located relatively close to it. These were places of permanent "stations", where the settled population was located, serving the needs of the Polovtsian khans and nobility. New phenomena in the life of the Polovtsian society made it more vulnerable to enemy attacks, but did not lead to a significant change in its relations with its neighbors. Constant raids on their lands remained part of the way of life of the Polovtsian society.

The relations of the Polovtsy with Byzantium and Hungary did not differ significantly from those in an earlier time with the Pechenegs. On the contrary, certain changes took place in relations between the Old Russian principalities and the Polovtsians. With the collapse of the Old Russian state and the emergence of princes fighting among themselves, situations arose more and more often when certain princes turned to the heads of individual hordes for support, involving them in inter-princely conflicts. Polovtsy increasingly began to appear in Rus' as participants in princely strife, which facilitated the conditions for capturing prey. This was just one of the trends in the development of relations between the ancient Russian principalities and the Polovtsians. She was opposed by another - periodically there were alliances of princes to jointly fight against the raids of nomads. However, it was the involvement of the Polovtsy in the inter-princely struggle that led to changes in the nature of relations - the conclusion of alliances between the princes and the Polovtsian khans led to the emergence of marriage alliances - the Russian princes married the khan's daughters. So, in 1107, Vladimir Monomakh married his son Yuri to the daughter of the Polovtsian prince Aepa, Andrei Bogolyubsky was born from this marriage; Vladimir, the son of Igor Svyatoslavich, the hero of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, was married to Konchak's daughter. This definitely contributed to the development of ethno-cultural contacts between peoples. One of its results was the appearance of the Polovtsian legend about Atrak and Syrchan on the pages of the ancient Russian chronicle: satisfied with his life in Georgia, Atrak did not want to return to his homeland, his brother sent him a singer who gave him a sniff of steppe grass, and Atrak returned to the Don steppes, saying : "It is better to eat on your own land with a bone, if it is glorious to be on someone else."

Throughout the period of X-XIII centuries. the lands of the south of Rus', bordering on the steppe zone, constantly lost a significant part of the surplus product and its producers themselves, both of which became the prey of the nomads. The lands of the north of Rus' were in a better position, they were not subjected to raids by nomads, and their ruling elite multiplied their incomes at the expense of tribute from neighboring tribes that were at a lower stage of social development.

Conflicts with nomads on the territory of Eastern Europe were typical not only for Ancient Rus'. The news preserved in the annals under 1117 that the “prince of Bulgaria” poisoned the Polovtsian khans who came to him for negotiations shows that for Volga Bulgaria, too, the neighborhood with nomads was a heavy burden.

Important changes took place in the early Middle Ages in the life of the Alans, the descendants of the Iranian-speaking Scythians and Sarmatians. The main one was the transition in the foothill areas from cattle breeding to settled agriculture (the main grain crops are millet and wheat). This is evidenced by the finds by archaeologists of iron plowshares and coulters, as well as grain. The same time was marked by the development of crafts associated with the manufacture of ceramics, weapons, horse harness, and various ornaments. The accumulation of a surplus product, which became possible due to these shifts, created the prerequisites for the social differentiation of the Alanian society. Already in the VIII-IX centuries. on the lands of the Alans, rich burials of equestrian warriors - warriors and "ordinary" burials, devoid of rich things and weapons, appear. At the turn of the IX-X centuries. on the lands of the Alans, a special state was formed, which played in the X-XII centuries. important role in political life in the Caucasus. Arabic writer of the first half of the 10th century. al-Masudi wrote about the "king" of the Alans as a powerful ruler who could lead 30,000 horsemen to war. In the VII-IX centuries. the Alanian tribes were dependent on the Khazars (a number of Alanian tribes paid tribute to them), together with whom they fought against the invasions of the Arab troops. And the Alanian state, originally dependent on the Khazar Khaganate, by the middle of the 10th century. became independent. Unlike the Khazars, the Pechenegs and Polovtsy did not try to include the peoples of the North Caucasus in their sphere of influence. X-XII centuries became the heyday of material culture and the military power of the Alans.

During this period, the borders of Alania included a vast territory from the upper reaches of the Kuban to the borders of modern Dagestan. It was a real state of the early Middle Ages, which was part of the zone of Byzantine influence. By the X century. refers to the construction of a network of stone fortresses on the territory of Alanya using Byzantine construction equipment. Even during the dependence on Khazaria, the Alans adopted Christianity from Byzantium. At the end of the 10th century, almost immediately after the Kyiv one, a special Alanian metropolis was created. The Greek alphabet began to be used to write texts in the local language. The capital of the state was probably the settlement of Nizhny Arkhyz in the upper reaches of the Kuban. The ruler of Alania maintained friendly relations with the principalities on the territory of Dagestan, and relations with the Adyghe tribes were hostile, the Alans undertook campaigns against them, sometimes reaching the Black Sea coast. The Mongol-Tatar invasion put an end to the existence of the Alanian state.

On the territory of Dagestan, the main occupation of the population was grazing, associated with the breeding of small livestock. Agriculture was also an important branch of the economy, but in the natural conditions that existed in the region, it could not play a major role. The smelting and processing of iron developed quite early here, and special centers were established for the manufacture of various iron products. The accumulated surplus product turned out to be sufficient for a noticeable social differentiation of society, but due to the natural conditions of Dagestan, where different parts of the country are separated from each other by insurmountable natural obstacles, a number of political centers gradually arose here. Already in the sources of the IV-V centuries. "eleven kings of the mountaineers" were mentioned in this territory. In the VII-VIII centuries. the rulers of the principalities on the territory of Dagestan were dependent on the Khazar Khagan. Together with the Khazars, they stubbornly fought against the Arab troops invading the North Caucasus. By the end of the 8th century local princes were forced to convert to Islam, and since that time Islam began to spread throughout the territory of Dagestan. Initially, however, mosques were set up only in the residences of the rulers, and the bulk of the population continued to adhere to pagan beliefs. The princes were also forced to pay tribute to the Arab caliph, but with the weakening of the caliphate in the 9th century. became independent. By this time, probably, the final formation of the largest principalities on the territory of Dagestan - Nusalstvo (Avaria), Shamkhalstvo (on the land of the Kumyks) and the principality of Utsmi Kaitagsky should be attributed.

The accumulated natural resources turned out to be enough for the emerging social elite to subjugate the surrounding population and settle in fortified centers - fortresses. The main sources of existence of this elite - the princely families and their combatants - were the labor of slaves captured in the war and tribute from community members, often paid in coins, but mainly in cattle, grain, handicrafts. A fairly isolated existence in a limited area, a limited amount of surplus product, which could not increase significantly under given natural conditions - all this contributed to the fact that the social relations that developed here in the early Middle Ages continued to persist for several centuries.

The northwestern part of the North Caucasus was occupied by the Adyghe tribes. The natural conditions and the way of economy were close to what took place at the same time on the lands of Dagestan. Social relations among the Adyghe tribes were more archaic, the process of separating the social elite was at an early stage.

The peoples of Siberia in the early Middle Ages. In the era of the early Middle Ages, important social and political changes took place in the steppe zone of Siberia, where large political associations were created in the conditions of lively and diverse contacts with China and the states of Central Asia.

The fall of the Turkic Khaganate in the struggle with China (mid-7th century) contributed to the liberation of numerous tribes of the steppe zone of Siberia from the power of the Turkic Khagans. These tribes created a number of political associations that played an important role in the historical development of the region. The largest among them was the association created by the Yenisei Kyrgyz (ancestors of modern Khakasses).

The first mentions of the "Kyrgyz" living on the Yenisei River are found in the writings of the Chinese historian Sima Qian (1st century AD). Later, in the 6th century, they are mentioned among the peoples subordinate to the Turkic Khagans. During the period of the highest power in the IX-X centuries. the unification of the Kyrgyz covered the territory from Lake Baikal in the east to the Altai Mountains in the west. The center of the land of the Kyrgyz was the Khakass-Minusinsk basin. This ethnic community was formed as a result of the mixing of the newcomer Mongoloid and the local Caucasoid population.

The main occupation of the Kyrgyz was nomadic cattle breeding (breeding horses, cows, sheep), combined with hunting for fur-bearing animals and fishing on large rivers. In accordance with this, the main military force of the Kyrgyz was the cavalry. At the same time, in some areas of the Khakass-Minusinsk basin, on the territory of Tuva, the existence of irrigated agriculture can be traced: finds of iron plowshares indicate that the land was already cultivated by a plow. Therefore, the Kyrgyz lived not only in yurts, but also in permanent settlements, in log houses covered with birch bark. On the territory of the land of the Kyrgyz, in the Kuznetsk Alatau, in Altai, there were centers of iron production, where a wide variety of products were made.

There was a noticeable social stratification in the society of the Kyrgyz, as evidenced by the difference between the rich burials of the nobility in mounds surrounded by standing stones - chaatas, and the burials of ordinary Kyrgyz located around them. Archaeologists also discovered a wooden town with the remains of buildings made of mud brick - apparently, the residence of the supreme head of the Kyrgyz. Depending on the Kyrgyz nobility were the taiga tribes neighboring their land, who paid tribute in sables and squirrels; here, during military campaigns, prisoners were captured, who then worked in the households of noble people.

The nobility controlled individual tribes, relying on their relatives and squads. She traded with China and the countries of Central Asia, sending furs and iron products there and receiving silk fabrics, jewelry, and mirrors in exchange.

The Kyrgyz used for their needs the runic script created in the Turkic Khaganate. Over 150 inscriptions have been found on the land of the Kyrgyz so far, most of them are epitaphs with praises to the deceased on stone steles placed on the graves of representatives of the nobility.

After the fall of the Turkic Khaganate, the unification of the Kyrgyz became independent and their head, like the Turkic rulers, took the title of Khagan. In 649, his ambassador visited the court of the Chinese emperor.